How to avoid the daily grind getting you down: be less busy, slow down and make tasks more meaningful
There is nothing wrong with being busy, but when it gets too hard to switch off at night and weekends you need to hit the pause button and recharge your mind and body. Yoga can help, and so can spending time with nature
Too busy to sit down to eat, too busy to maintain friendships, too busy to spend quality time with family, too busy to exercise, too busy to go on holiday … I hate to admit it, but that was me not too long ago. Between 2006 and 2011 I was so busy with the demands of my career that I allowed every other aspect of my life to fall by the wayside.
I took pleasure in having a million things to do because it gave me a sense of purpose. Running two magazines and a website during the day and attending work and social events at night kept me on my well-manicured toes and made me feel like I was working towards something important.
What I didn’t know was that my ultra-busy lifestyle was eroding my emotional and physical health. I often felt overwhelmed, but found it hard to switch off, even when I went home at night. I was constantly wracked with worry about making mistakes and being labelled a failure. Still, I continued to pile more work on myself.
Looking back, I realise I was doing a lot, but not really getting anything done. And I was not fulfilled.
Eventually my “busy” addiction caught up with me, in the form of extreme mental and physical fatigue and paralysing anxiety attacks that would leave me holed up in bed at weekends.
Find a quiet spot in a park or on the beach and just sit there with your thoughts. Take in your surroundings and let go of your worries